So What! Wednesday

This week, I'm saying so what that...

• The most virtuous I've felt for a while was today!  Scarlett and I went to the local ice cream shop and we walked away with just a slushy for her -- yesssss!
• Intervention letters are SO my mom's thing, but the need for clarifying emotions through letters may have been passed on to me; I just sent my first one!  ;)
• I will ABSOLUTELY be paying another thirty bucks just to take a better license picture.
• I'm kind of loving keeping baby 2's name a secret!  I can NOT keep a secret, ever, but this is proving to be fun!!!
• No matter how many times I refer to our cat, Rex, as his nickname, "Frexy," Scarlett continues to call him "Sex."  All. the. time.  It makes the neighbors do a double take!
• I watch Big Brother.  Eek!  I love to watch Big Brother so much that I don't fall asleep when Scarlett goes to bed.  I lose sleep to get my Big Brother fix.  
• I'm feeling so sad about baby 2 coming as soon as she is...I cannot imagine life with more than just Scarlett and me...
• Leaving the house today is out. of. the. question.  I have way too many things to do here!!!
• "'Roni and cheese" is Scarjo's favorite meal.  At least I buy the veggie kind, right?!  
• Scarlett was dreaming about Elmo.  In my defense, she was sick that day and had watched back-to-back Sesame Street.  
• I have had a cup of coffee just about everyday since the 2nd trimester of this pregnancy.  It's a smaller cup than I would ever normally drink and I'm super-aware of the amount of caffeine I'm having, but it still feels wicked scandalous!  
• Speaking of coffee...it's a bit silly, but I'm counting down the days until Starbucks' pumpkin flavor comes out.  (September 4!!!  Woohoo!) 

Lies.

pinterest.com

...that would just be awkward at the Dunkin' Donuts drive-thru!

A Convo with Scarjo!

(I showed Scarlett my belly moving because baby 2 was having a dance party in there.)  

Scarlett suddenly looks down to her belly, sucks it in, and says, "Oh no, my baby 2 all gone!"  

I asked where she went and she looks at me with a serious face and replies, "Gone shoppin'!"  

(Her Mainer accent makes it even more hilarious!)

Scarjo's a fan of the self-photo!

Fancy Nancy Ice Cream Soiree!

We had a night out on the town last night!  Our local library hosted an Ice Cream Soiree (I just love the word, soiree!)  based on the character, Fancy Nancy.   Mary and I dressed up the girls and headed out for our night of fun!

After our mini-photoshoot, we were ready for some fun!  It turned out to be a really cute party, but I wish that I'd prepared Scarlett better in understanding exactly who is Fancy Nancy.  The books are a little above her reading level, so we haven't read them yet!  We'll be ready for next year's soiree...!

When we arrived at the library, they had the "red carpet" rolled out for all the Fancy Nancys and Dapper Dans to pose and have their picture taken!  I thought it was such a fantastic idea!  (Hello, future birthday party activity!)

The librarian was the photographer and she captured a great picture of the two girls together, but once Scarlett and Louisa relaxed a bit, we hit up the red carpet again; they were more than happy to pose for us!

Time for ice cream!

A little skeptical of all the strangers!

No stranger danger for Lulu; she was just psyched for the chocolate sauce!

Mamie and Neeners!

After the ice cream, crown decorating, and face painting, the girls were ready to head out!  Lulu and Mary left a little too early, though, and missed out on FLOWERS!  Those little pink roses made Scarlett's night!

She added a little toe pointing for extra fanciness!  

Now where was Tyler, you may ask?!  Well, he totally spaced the whole thing and ended up at Cam's soccer practice instead where he kept my mom company and played with Alyssa Lou!  At least he wins the Uncle of the Year Award!  ;)

Public Service Announcement. Welcome.

Let me preface this post by saying that I am the queen of pretty license pictures!  I take it seriously.  The primping and prettifying that is done in preparation for that picture is extensive!  After all, especially when you're in your 20's, you'll likely be whipping out that bad boy lots!  (at least that was the case for me)

Here's the proof:

Back when I was young & spry!

For a license picture, I was happy.  But then it expired (in 2011)...SO

Yesterday was the day that I decided to renew my license after driving around for a YEAR with an expired one.  You may be asking yourself, "why now?" because that's exactly what Tyler said.  He was convinced that the DMV would be coming to our town, only 20 minutes from their office, and save me the gas money drive.

For me, it was now or never!  I had just had my hair colored & styled, my summer tan hasn't faded yet, and IT HAD BEEN A YEAR!  With baby 2 coming, who knows when I would have ever gone to the DMV.

What I didn't consider when making my decision was the fact that I'm a million years pregnant!  "Hello, Fat Kirstie Alley face, I've missed you since my last pregnancy."  Big mistake.

On top of my fat pregnancy face, the Maine DMV has decided that they don't want a picture of anything other than your face.  No neck to elongate your face.  Nope.  JUST your face, front and center.  This, combined with my Kirstie Alley likeness, did not make for a pretty picture.

To make matters worse, *public service announcement* for all of you Mainers, THEY ONLY LET YOU TAKE ONE PICTURE.  When did this happen?

I was mid-sentence when they snapped away.  I hadn't flipped my hair, applied new lip gloss, OR make my skinny face.  The machine told the DMV lady that my eyes were closed BECAUSE THEY WERE, but she glanced at the picture after my groan, and said, "You look beautiful!"  Lies.  Then I looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to tell me to go try again, when she said, "We only take one picture.  Have a nice day!"

At this point, I wanted to yell and scream and stamp my foot and make her take another shot, but I'm an adult, so I grabbed Scarlett's hand, and marched out, feeling like it was all unfinished business.

My only sign of hope was that Tyler assured me that once I'm not pregnant, I can "lose" my license and have my picture retaken.  I was pacified until Mary said that the pictures are all digital and they'll just send me a new one with my ugly picture.  So I might just have to suck it up for 6 years until this one expires???!!!  Maybe.

5 Whole Years!!!

On August 17, 2007, Tyler and I made our way to City Hall on a sunny, perfect day to do the wedding thing!  It was very casual, but I still got to wear a pretty, white Marilyn Monroe dress and hold a bouquet of flowers!!!  Our immediate family was there and we jetted off to Florida (to his grandmother's retirement community.  Seriously.) to spend a week sunbathing and shopping!  My idea of the perfect vacation!

Poor Tyler is absolutely cropped out!

The ceremony.  Short & sweet!

That was all FIVE YEARS AGO!  So much has happened in those five years; crazy fun, arguments that I always win, (almost) two babies, house buying (and trying to sell), a few different cars, and lots of time with my insane family!!!   I am so fortunate to have Tyler, even though I don't say it enough!  He works so hard to provide for our family and he puts up with the crazy that IS my family!  And he fits right in!

Today, Tyler has continued his tradition of bringing me coffee in the morning!  Even with half the caffeine, it was still delicious, and just tastes better because I didn't have to leave the house to get it!

After Tyler left for work, Scarlett and I started unpacking baby clothes from boxes.  I didn't get very far when I noticed that she was trying on all of my discarded items.  Fruitcake!  I have a feeling the next 10 weeks are going to be spent putting stuff away for baby 2/following around Scarlett and redoing everything she's undone!  At least she keeps me on my toes!

It's been an eventful anniversary so far...the rest of our day includes Rhyme Time for Scarjo and then I have to figure out what to get Tyler for a small, thoughtful gift...boys are so hard to shop for!!!

Happy things on the rainiest day EVER!

The first happy thing?  My puj tub came in the mail today!  I love mail!  But when I opened the bag, I was a bit disappointed.  It was just a big, styrofoam-y thing with scuff marks (gotta love ebay!).  And, I'm not gonna lie, it took me a few times to figure out which magnets went together for it to fold!!!  Sads.  I haven't lost hope for the fancies yet, though!!  When baby 2 takes her first bath in the puj, I'm sure I'll love it!

Another happy thing happened today...I got my hair fixed!!!  It wasn't super-broken, BUT I had decided to go bleach blonde for the summer and, well, it's been a while since then.  My roots were horrendous and my ends were FRIED from the bleach.  Yuck.  I went to a new hairdresser and she. was. AWESOME.  I made Scarjo take pictures with me for my before and after...!

BEFORE:

Way too blonde with gross roots.

AFTER:

Tons better!

So YAY for a happy, rainy day; can't wait for sunshine tomorrow, though!

Scarjo has lots of plans for baby 2!

While on the way home this evening, Scarlett and I were talking about baby 2 and all of the things she was going to do to help me.  We passed "Mummy's doctor" which prompted me to say, "When we pick up baby 2, is she going to sit in a car seat next to you?!"  Scarlett responded, "Yup!" and then waited a second and decided that, "no, baby 2 is going to sit on my lap!"

Not exactly, but I love her enthusiasm!

Guess who is getting all of Scarlett's abuse attention even more lately?  Mr. Rex!  Hopefully she's a little more gentle with baby 2...

MUST HAVES for Baby 2

I'm pulling a modg and making a list of stuff I like that I want/need for baby 2.  Hopefully, this will keep me organized and once I have it all, I'll feel super-prepared for the arrival of the baby!  On top of shopping, I have a to-do list that's forever long!  The upstairs of our house needs to be completely rearranged because all the bedrooms are changing, Scarjo's going to actually sleep in her room, and I need to wash and sort through baby clothes from the last 3 baby girls in the family and decide what we need.  Oh yeah, aaaand I still have to sort through Scarjo's closet and figure out what she needs, too!  Ahhh, the stress!!!  I'll just stick with the internet shopping.  It's less stressful and way more fun!!!

We need to buy baby 2 a car seat.  Scarjo's car seat has expired.  Lame because I loved it so much, but car seat shopping isn't so bad!  Now the Maxi Cosi Prezi would be the perfect car seat.  The Prezi is almost as perfect and amazing as this, BUT only a little less spendy!  I can still dream...

Prezi love!

even if we're probably going to go with this car seat or this one.  They're both really safe and definitely fit into my strollers.  Perfect!  We'll see...up next?  A mirror for the back seat!  This one looks awesome and I love all Baby Einstein products.

Entertainment and helps me make sure Scarjo's not poking the baby.

We also need to buy baby 2 a bath tub.  Puj tub?  YES, please!

Fancy baby things are awesome.

But then I found this:

Less expensive and different from what I used the first around!

It's PINK!  Definitely a serious contender!

I'm planning on sticking both girls in the big bath tub together once baby 2 can sit up, so we'll need one of these, too!

Dreambaby Deluxe Bath Seat

In order to get back in shape after baby 2 is born, I'll be doing the 3 mile loop near my house with BOTH babies (unless I can work out some kind of deal with Mary!), so I'll need to pick up a second seat to fit my stroller.  

It will look so clean next to Scarlett's glitter covered seat.  At least at first!  

I wanted to try this with Scarlett, but it was never in stock in our town, so I just forgot about it eventually.  I'd like to get this for baby 2 from the get-go because lots of friends have sworn that it's magic at putting babies to sleep!  Sign me up!

When baby 2 is starting to teeth, I want to use this necklace!  I also never got around to purchasing one for Scarjo because teething was no biggie for her, but I think the concept is neat!  

Plus, Tori Spelling uses it, so it must be awesome!  

This whole list really is kind of boring, but definitely necessary.  Fun, girly things that I want for baby 2 are more frivolous, but make the whole "getting ready for baby" exciting without spending too much!

Scarlett never used a pacifier, but I'm going to stick one of those bad boys into baby 2's mouth as soon as she's figured out the nursing thing.  I'm legit bringing a stash to the hospital.  And these are so pretty!  I'm a fan!

GumDrop Newborn Pacifier


Baby 2's due date is October 27.  Now this makes things tricky because what if she comes early?  She'll definitely need a festive outfit, but then if I buy a festive outfit and then she comes late (like Scarlett), that would be a waste.  I found my solution at gap.com!  

PERFECT!  Baby 2 needs knit hats, so this really would be fun!  And if she's born late, these are still adorable and can absolutely be worn all through the fall and winter months.  Love!  But the best part of it all???  Look at these little booties!  I am DYING for them!  My babies never wear shoes until they're way older, but these are pretty much just cozy socks!  Cozy socks that I want to wear.  

Speaking of knit hats, I need this in my life.  Kelle Hampton put baby Nella in the cutest knit hat when she was in the hospital, so she has inspired me to do the same.  Etsy is the ruler of all things cozy and handmade, so that's where I found the best knits.  This one is from Chloe's Crochet Closet.

And this one from knoodleknits is making me giddy for baby girls!!!

Eeeek!!!  I'm excited!!!!  Only 11 weeks and and 2 days left before PBS makes her arrival...!!!  I'd better start getting my business together!

Visiting Frank!

When I was in college, my grandfather-figure passed away at the age of 69. As devastated as I was for myself at the time, I don't think I realized how final death really is.

Now that I have Scarlett, awesome nieces, and baby 2 on the way, I want to share them with Frank! I want him to love them and take a million pictures of them, just like he used to with me and my siblings. It's frustrating to me that I can't actually see Frank loving my babies, Alyssa, and Louisa, but going to visit his grave is really a comfort. I get sad that we're in a cemetery instead of sitting in Frank's yellow, 1960's kitchen, eating our body weight in ice cream and cookies and candy, but I love that his grave gets fresh flowers, so everyone knows he's loved!

It's a happy thing that I do with Scarlett and we've even added to the fun by visiting her favorite flower store first to pick our flowers; there are "puppy wogs" there that make Scarlett freak out with happiness!

Here are a few instagrams that I took while we were there!

Right before we left, Scarlett started using the Bartlett headstone as her own balance beam.  Most people might be horrified by that, but I know Frank was loving it!  That was his favorite part of my family; we are all wild and crazy fun, happy people!  Watching Scarlett, I would have given anything to see Frank's face.  She is just as crazy as we all are and Frank would have been so entertained!  

I'm not even gonna lie, Scarlett was not okay with leaving her flower behind.  Only when I promised that we'd visit the "puppy wogs" again soon did she agree to say goodbye to her flower!